YONKERS - The city has begun preparing a site where a new downtown firehouse will be built.

Work began in June on a grassy area near the intersection of New School Street, Palisade Avenue and Elm Street.

"The movement you see is part of the brownfield remediation for the site," Yonkers spokeswoman Christina Gilmartin wrote in a email. "It needs to be completed by (Dec. 31) in order to maintain the program credits that are set to expire at the end of the year."

Gilmartin referred to a state Department of Environmental Conservation program that reimburses part of the cost of environmental clean-ups.

The city will hire a contractor to build the estimated $10 million firehouse, whose construction is expected to begin in 2018.

On June 27, the Yonkers City Council approved a resolution to borrow $58.8 million for various projects in the city's 2017-18 capital budget. That list includes borrowing $10 million for the firehouse, which is the most expensive project on the list.

The new firehouse is expected to have a useful life of 30 years, according to the budget. The City Council also approved borrowing $528,875 to buy firefighting gear and equipment, and $500,000 for fire building reconstruction.

The new firehouse will be built almost across the street from the old fire headquarters and firehouse, which was condemned and evacuated in 2015.Firefighters who worked in the condemned building were reassigned to other firehouses and the fire headquarters was moved to 470 Nepperhan Ave.

The new three-bay firehouse will be smaller than the condemned structure, which had four bays. The former firehouse and headquarters will be demolished, and a parking lot is envisioned for that location, according to Gilmartin.

The new firehouse is not expected to impact redevelopment proposals that the city has sought for the nearby Chicken Island parking lot.

Earlier this year, the Yonkers firefighters union held a series of public meetings on the urgency of replacing the condemned Fire Station 1 at 5-7 New School St.

"The rescue company is way too far away from the west side of the city," firefighter union president Barry McGoey said Monday.

In March, after Mayor Mike Spano announced his intention to borrow money for the replacement firehouse, McGoey said the project should have been fast-tracked after the condemnation because it could take two years to finish the new firehouse.